Improvement in b reech - lo a



E. MAYNARD.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

No 26.364. Patented Dec. 6, 1859 IL EYEM. 'ROTO-UTMRIPMEI. WASMIDIGI'ON. B 04 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

S|wci|icatiuu llu'ming part of heifers Patent No. 26,36 duicd December ti, Hil

To all whom (it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD llIAYNARl), of the city of \Vashington and District of Columbia, have invented an Improved Breech-Loading Fire-Arm; and I do hereby declare that i the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, making a part of this speciiieation.

Figure l is a view of the main features of my improved fire-arm as seen from the rigl'ithand side; Fig. 2, a view of a portion of the same as seen from the left-hand side. Fig. 3, a top view of the breech piece and some of the other parts of the fire-arm, which are either combined with or are contiguous to the breechpiece; Fig. 4, a view of the under side of the breech-piece and some of the parts which are combined therewith; Fig. 5, a section in the line mm of Fig. 3; Fig. 6, a section in theline 113 of Fig. 3; and the remaining drawings rep resent by plan and sectional views various parts of the fire-arm in detail.

Similar letters indicate like parts in each of the drawings.

The form of the breech-piece A and the manner of connecting the same with the barrel B of my improved fire-arm are clearly represented in the drawings. The fulcrum-pinf, which forms a portion of the jointed connection between the barrel and the breechpiece, is received into apertures in a pair of cars, n n, at the extremity of the projecting front portion of the breech-piece; and a hook, e, on

the under side of the barrel fits accurately within the said cars at the same time that it closely embraces the said fulcrum-pin as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The connection of the breech-piece A, the barrel B, and the actuating-lever D with each other is clearly represented in Fig. 5, and may be described as follows: At its fulcrum end the lever D has two parallel projections, which are doubly perforated, as shown in Fig. 11. The fulcrum end of said lever is received into the slot 10 in the projecting front portion of the breech-piece, and is securely jointed to the sides thereof by means of the pin w, which passes through the perforations nearest to the end of the lever. One end of the curved link 0 is received into the space between the ears 0 c, which descend from the underside of the butt of the barrel, and is jointed to said cars by the pin It. The other end ofthe said curved link passes between the parallel parts of the double fulcrum end of the lever I), and is jointed thereto by means of the pin 1, which passes through the perforations near the inner extremities of the said portions of the head of the lever. A shoulder, d, descends from the under side of the barrel, between the front ends of the ears 0 c, which shoulder, when the barrel is thrown into the position shown in Fig. 5, bears against an adjustable block, b, that is fitted into a groove in the inner surface of the projecting front portion of the breech-piece, immediately in front of the slot 1), and in such alnanner that by means of the set-screw a the butt-end of the barrel can be brought against the face of the abutment of the breeclrpiece with any desired degree of tightness. The aforesaid adjustable bearingblock b is prevented from being thrown out of its place by the screw 0, which passes to the said block through an aperture in the aforesaid portion of the breech-piece, which aperture isenough larger than the shank and head of said screw to allow the said block to be moved toward the front or rear to any necessary extent. The beveled front end of the block b fits accurately against the beveled head of the adjusting screw 0;, whose screw-shank passes outwardly through a screw-aperture in the aforesaid portion of the breeelrpiece, and there presents a rounded and finished appearance, which maybe nicked for the purpose of enabling the said screw to be turned from the outer side of the breeclbpiece. By turning the screw ain the proper direction it will readily be perceived that the face of the butt of the barrel can be brought up against the face of the abutment of the breech-piece with a sufficient degree of force to form a close joint between the two, the hook 0 being of such a length as to allow the requisite and necessary longitudf nal movement of thebarrel upon the fulcrumpin f but for the purpose of insuring a perfectly tight joint between the abutment of the breech-piece and the butt of the barrel, I insert aflange-bottomed metallic cup, 1), into the chamber of the barrel, and then so adjust the position of the block b as to cause the radiating flange of said cup to be closely embraced between the face of the abutment of the breechpiece and the annular face of the butt of the lntrrcl when the barrel is brought to the posi tion shown in Fig. 5. The aforesaid metallic cup r maybe connected to the perforatedhead ol' the l'ulerunrscrew 1' by means of a strap or aehain, to be used with loose annnnnition; or any number of llange-bottomed metallic cups of the proper size may be charged with powder and projectiles and be carried to the iicld by the soldier or. sporisman for ready and rapid iiring. llaeh ol the aforesaid metallic cups musthave a small aperture formed in the center oi'its bottom to reeei re the priming-lire, which passes through the central perforation in the abutincntol' the breeclrpiru'ae; and I. have ascertained by practical experience that the tilling ofthe small apertures in the bottoms of the aforesaid metallic cups with some greasy co1nposition renders tllOl'|l,\VllCl1 charged, perfectly water-proof, while it does not in the slightest degree impede the entrance of the priminglire. I give the actuating'lcvcr D such a shape that when the barrel. is in the position for firing shown by Fig. 1 the said lever will form a guard for the trigger. The link G must be slightly elastic, and should be made of the toughest and strongest metal. The shape of this link is such that the pivots m l, which serve to combine it with the barrel and with the actuating-lever, will be in such positions with relation to the pivot-pin it that when the said parts are in the positions shown in Fig. 5 a line projected through the center of the pins 7: and 10 will be tangential to the front side of the pin I. This arrangement causes the greatest amount-of leverage to be exerted upon the barrel just before the actuating-lever is brought home to its closed position, and therefore the link 0 exerts a considerable degree of retaining force upon the lever"D af ter it has reached its closed position. The said lever is protectedsagainst lateral strains when it is in its closed position, and it is also held more securely in said position by a short pin, which descends from the under strap, F, and enters an aperture in the portion of the lever which bears against said strap, as shown in Fig. 5. The under strap, F, projects rearwardly from its connection with the under side of the body of the breech-piece, and is secured to the under side of the stock. The lever D can easily be thrown into the position shown in Fig. 2, and when in said position the butt of the barrel is elevated a sufiicient distance above the abutment of the breech-piece to entirely uncover the opening to the chamber of the bore for the withdrawal or the reception of the metallic cup '0. The pin 10, which connects the extremity of the leverD with the breech-piece, is retained in its position therein by the overlapping head of the screw c,whose shank is received into ascrew aperturewithinthe breech-piece; but byturn-- ing the pin 10 into the position represented by Fig. 12 a groove, 2, in a portion of the length of one side of the same receives a portion oi the projecting head 01' the :rctainingscrcw a, and thereby allows the said pin to be drawn out far enough and only fair enough to de tach it from its hold upon the leverl), and as soon as this has been done the barrel can be readily detached from the ln'eeeh-picee by unhooking it from the pin and then drawing the lever up through the slot 1) in the projecting front portion of the breech-piece.

The above-mentioned pivot-pin 10 carries a rightangular arm, I), upon its front end, which enables the said pin to be easily turned upon its axis, and then withdrawn to the desired extent without the aid of instruments.

To facilitate the removal of the flange-loottomed metallic cup from the chamber of the barrel, I form on. opposite sides of the butt of the same rearwardly tapering and slightly concave faces r r, of suiilcient depth at their after extremities to en able the flange of the cup to be readily taken hold of by the thumb and finger of the user when the barrel is thrown into the position shown in Fig. 2. Within that por tion of the breech-piece which is covered by the plate L a recess is formed for the reception of the circular-shaped body of the hammer E. The hammer is combined with the mainspring n by means of the link 0' and the requisite recesses in the body of the hammer, as shown in Figs. 5 and (i. The sear'spring O and the mainspring a are both combined with the under strap, F, by means of the screw 1), and from that point the said springs pass forward to the hammer and to the trigger through a notch in the stock and an aperture in the breeehpieee. The aforesaid plate L is secured in its position upon the breechpiece by the pinsl and m, as shown in the drawings, the former pin also serving as a pivot for the hammer. A perforation in the lefthandside of the breech-piece, which opens into the delivery-throat of the primer-magazine, receives the shank of the burr-headed pin 6, upon whose inner extremity the ratchetwheel h and the feeding-wheel g are placed, and are securely combined therewith by means of a screw, as shown in Fig. ,7.

The pawl j, which communicates motion from the lower portion of the body of the hammer to the ratchet-wheel h, is jointed to the said portion of the body of the hammer, and is always kept in a working position by means of a guiding projection from the breech-piece near the outer extremity of said pawl, and by a spring which projects from its upper side and bears against a projecting pin from the body of the hammer, all as shown in Fig. 6.

For the purpose of preventing the abrasion of the mouth of the chamber during the operation of cleaning out the barrel of my improved fire-arm, I shall insert therein, preliminary to said operation, an open flaring tube, P, substantially as represented in Fig. 13.

Having thus fully described my improved breech-loading fire-arm, what I claim therein as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The peculiar manner of connecting the barrel to the breech-pieee-viz., the hook c on the under side of the barrel taking hold of the pin f (or the equivalent thereof) at the front end of the breech-piece, while the link (3, the lever D, and the joint-pins of said link and lever are arranged in such a manner with relationto the slot in the breech-piece and the ears on the under side of the butt of the barrel as to form a treble-jointed and compound leverage connection between the breechpiece and the butt of the barrel of such a character that the barrel can be instantly thrown from a firing position to a loading position, and vice versa, and also of such acharacter that the barrel can be easily and quickly detached from the breech-piece, or be securely united thereto, substantially in the manner herein set forth.

2. The combination of the metallic block b, the screw 0, and the screw it with each other and with the front portion of the breeclrpiece in such a manner with relation to the shoulder d on the under side of the barrel that the joint between the butt of the barrel and the abutment of the breech-piece can be tightened or loosened, substantially in the manner herein set forth.

3. The retaining of the pivot-pin w in its position within the breech-piece by means of the overlapping head of the screw a, but this only when the longitudinal groove z in one side of a portion of the length of said pivot- .pin is so located that when the pin is turned to the position shown in Fig. 12 (or any other previously determined position) it may be drawn out far enough and only far enough to detach the said pin from its hold upon the lever D, and thereby allow the barrel to be separated from the breech-piece, substantially in the manner herein set forth.

4. Vhen the pivot-pin w is retained in its position within the breech-piece by the overlapping head of the screw ct in such a manner that it can be loosened by partially turning the same upon its axis, the arm 1) upon the outer end of said pin, which enables it to be readily turned upon its axis, and partially withdrawn fromits place without any mechanical assistance, substantially as herein set forth.

5. When the barrel is connected to the breech-piece in the within-described manner, the producing of a tight joint between the butt of the barrel and the abutment of the breechpiece by combining therewith a flange-bottomed metallic cup, substantially as herein set forth.

6. Giving the opposite faces r r of the butt of the barrel such a shape that the flange-bot tomed metallic cup 1) can be easily takelfhold of by the thumb and finger of the free hand of the user when the barrel is thrown into the loading position, substantially as herein set forth.

EDW'ARD MAYNARD.

Witnesses:

Z. O. ROBBINS, EDM. F. BROWN. 

